[Deck 8, Office of the Ship's Counselor, U.S.S. Normandie]
[July 21, 2386 CE]
[1000 Hours]
Worn out, a bit frazzled, and a might bit dusty from fiddling around the Wanderer's crawl spaces, Cadet Luna Konev buzzed the Counselor's door for her scheduled meeting. With the excitement of what happened yesterday and last night, Luna hadn't had much time to research this new addition from the wayward patrol boat. The new Counselor was another half-Betazoid, sort of like Doctor Valentine, though this one mixed with Vulcan heritage.
That must have been an interesting coupling, she thought to herself, a species of people that read each others' thoughts and emotions with a species of people that try to gather and repress them.
Eiri stood and pulled on his uniform, his eyebrows lifting a little in amusement at her thoughts. Underlying the Orion's surface thoughts was a feeling of irritation, perhaps frustration. She had questions and they were not being answered fast enough. "Enter!" he called out.
The Orion obeyed and entered as the doors slid open. An elfin looking man with a pale face shrouded with evocative silver hair greeted her. For an exotic such as herself, this was quite the unique figure. He stood at about her height but she couldn't help but feel like this man should be a runway model for the most current fashions on Terra or Argelius II.
"Cadet Luna Konev, reporting as requested." She sounded formally, but smiling a calmly as she could.
Eiri smiled, it was warm, friendly. "I am so glad to finally meet you as well, Luna. May I call you Luna? My name is Eiri." It was not the first time he had touched an Orion's mind, but he had forgotten how sultry they could be.
"You can call me whatever you want, Eiri." Luna smirked, shifting her weight and resting a hand on her hip nonchalantly. Brushing her hair back with her other hand, she arched an eyebrow and simply thinking, Are you ready?
He gave her a respectful nod. "Would you care to sit down? What about a drink?" He gestured to the furnishings, two chairs and a couch, which were shaped much like the standard Starfleet fare, but they were covered in a plush fabric that was dark chocolate in color.
"Simple hot green tea is fine." Luna took the chair across from the Counselor's. The couch was for confessions and seductions, neither of which the Orion felt like pursuing today.
Eiri went to the replicator and ordered Green Tea and a glass of Fridd. Fridd was an Andorian tea and served ice cold, made to drink as it thawed. He held Luna’s hot tea out to her. “Here you are.”
"Thank you." Taking the tea, she blew across its surface, rippling its pristine image of relaxation. "I am sure you are accustomed to the trepidation people have with Counselors, much less Telepaths. I hope you won't take it personally when I say I'd like to get back into my personal chambers as soon as I can."
He chuckled warmly. “Well then, shall we get started?” It seemed more of a rhetorical question, then something he actually expected an answer to. He picked up a PADD from the table and set it on his knee when he took his seat, the glass of frozen drink also in his lap. “How do you feel about your posting here?”
"Honestly?" Luna peered over the teacup. "Well, I'm glad I'm not posted at Kepler. I hear that's where all the rejects and dead end careers go. The Normandie is a good ship; it has a valid reason and plenty of room for a cadet like me to grow. If I had to put an emotion to being here, I'd have to say it was contentment."
“It sounds like your career is very important to you. Starfleet, of course, looks for cadets who are motivated, self-starters. Although, I myself, worked at a Terra-forming station dirt-side as my first assignment, not all of us are lucky enough to have a posting on a ship immediately out the Academy.”
He sipped the little bit of tea that has melted from the solid chunk of ice. “I sensed that perhaps you had questions for me about our arrival. There seemed to be some agitation concerning it. To be honest, we were just as surprised as you were.”
"Ah yes, well concerning that agitation, I can't hide that now can I?" The Orion sipped at her tea nonchalantly as she crossed her legs at the ankles, leaning backwards. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm naturally suspicious, its instinct for Orions and a prerequisite for Intel. But I'm concerned about how you folks got here and how you all ended up taking over the key spots on the Normandie."
True, she admitted to herself internally, the natural thing to do for the Wanderer crew was to reconstitute them into the jobs they were best suited. The Normandie was a good distance away from civilization at the moment so dropping them off at a local space station was some time in coming. But even as she validated their role here, he inner resentment seemed to bubble at the thought of a certain someone getting a leg up on her. Adam Carter's face come to mind.
Eiri shrugged a little bit. “Honestly, I am not too sure on that matter myself. We had no indication that the species in question had those kinds of abilities at all. There was nothing in their dossier that even remotely hinted at mental abilities.” He chuckled, a little dryly. “As far as our assignments to this ship go though, I do not presume to understand what Starfleet had in mind. Perhaps we were the crew with more experience, or they had other motivations.” He smiled a little, leaving no room for questions and giving no indication that he heard her inner dialogue. “How have you been sleeping, Luna?”
"I catch some downtime every now and then." Luna shrugged. "I've been a little busy recently, sleep has been a luxury, so I've been on some Modafinil. And before you ask: yes its prescribed, and no: I'm not abusing it. You'll come to find out soon enough that the Captain is pretty strict about deadlines and responsibilities."
Eiri chuckled. “I am glad that you sought help for sleeping on your own when you felt there was a problem. It is often difficult to for people to admit that they are not sleeping well or even recognize it.” He nodded in understanding. “I have actually worked with Captain Virkov before. I am very aware of her leadership style and I enjoy it. I wish that more Starfleet leaders were of such caliber. I believe that no matter the consequences the Captain has what is in the best interest for the crew in mind.
"Well, all of us in the Intel department up until now were Cadets and lower ratings, mostly Data Gathering and Information Dissemination sort of types." Luna sipped at her tea daintily. "Not to toot my own horn, but I pretty much took over the leadership of that since launch and I'd like to think we're doing fine. And, again, before you ask: yes, its because I'm ambitious. Take from that, what you will."
“There is nothing wrong with ambition. If people lacked ambition then we would have very few strong leaders. It is always the placement of the ambition that one should examine.” He smiled. “You will make a fine leader, although if you had a problem, do you have someone that you could turn to? Confide in?” He tapped his delicate fingers on the edge of his PADD.
"I don't want to seem petty, Mister Ashshy." Luna sipped at her tea again, smirking to herself. "But we Intel folks don't really confide in a lot of folks... it’s kinda against our job description."
She sighed. She had a couple of best friends, though they were posted elsewhere, thousands of light years away. Here on the ship, she only had a few acquaintances but none she would confide in. She had a Personal Log for that sort of stuff.
“I see,” he answered vaguely, his face a mask as to what he was thinking about either her inner or outer dialogue. “And what do you do to relax? Holodecks? The Lounge?” It was hard to tell if he was actually curious or if he was simply filling their time with questions. Something about the counselor’s demeanor had definitely changed.
"I have been known to frequent bars on my free time, but that was months ago." Cadet Konev mused. "A vibromassage and a long nap is the best I can afford at this time. Even now, I've got a class from the XO at 1200 hours. After that its back to figuring out what happened on your boat after the religious monks started their... shenanigans. I'd imagine my new Chief will be contacting me soon, as well."
“Shenanigans indeed.” He shook his head. “Well, it seems like you are a very busy person. I will not keep you any longer. Thank you for attending the meeting. I would like to schedule another in six months if we are all still here.” He chuckled, indicating that he was making light of the situation. He knew when he was not going to get any further with an interview and this was definitely one of those moments.
"Whenever you request time be made, I will gracefully submit, providing it will be as pleasant as today." Luna grinned, putting down her teacup and standing up. "Eiri, you seem to be a nice guy. Maybe I'll see you in the Lounge... we can share a drink or two together, and I can vent some grief off on you... you know, off the record."
Eiri chuckled, stood and saw her to the door. “Thank you, Luna. I look forward to our next meeting.” He did not want to tell her that the Lounge was the one place she would never see him. Too many people. He much preferred his people one to two at a time.
((JP by Luna and Eiri))
Subject: Re: Personnel File for Cadet Senior Grade Luna Konev 
Sun Feb 13, 2011 6:10 am
